We wanted to update everyone with how our campaign for a truly multi-purpose sports and community building rather than the council’s planned cricket pavilion is going.
 
We still think the council’s current plans are bad for the park, bad for the community and bad for Islington.

We think a more imaginative plan developed with local people at its heart that also made provision for cricket would better meet the twin goals of supporting a sport in our public space and providing tangible benefits to the community.
 
We do not believe the current plan even tries to meet the complex needs of our neighborhood, beyond lip service in the form of a non-private area called a “community space”.

It is quite clear the plan only creates a space locals cannot realistically use during games, which will themselves take place at peak times (evening and weekends) seven days a week for seven months of the year.
 
We know hundreds of local people agree with us.
 
Our online petition has raised hundreds of signatures.

We know councillors and our MP have received letters to this effect, and we are doing all we can to persuade our representatives that the assumption this ‘Cricket First’ exercise should pass without public scrutiny is incorrect.
 
We believe Wray Crescent is a community park that sometimes hosts cricket, it is not a cricket pitch that exists in some alternative dimension outside of the local community.
 
We think most people are familiar with these arguments.
 
It is surely sensible that anything that is built improves the park for everyone who uses it, not just one group. A great deal (we think around £400,000) of public money is being spent on it, in addition to money raised from funders.
 
So, an update on recent activity:
 
Our MP gave us a fair hearing
 
We held what we felt was a constructive conversation with our MP, Jeremy Corbyn.
 
While we haven’t yet learned his response, we felt that he understood our desire for local consultation and for an investment that delivered tangible benefit to the local community. We think he understands the need for a compromise between all stakeholders, rather than the council’s current direction which favours one group of users above everyone else.
 
To support our arguments, we presented Mr Corbyn with a 28-page report that analysed the council’s proposal, and also a short presentation in which we tried to represent all the different groups of park users whose needs are not being met by the existing plan.
 
We are surprised by our councillors
 
We have received a surprising response from our three Tollington Ward councillors.

On a personal, not organizational, basis, our chair wrote to them to request changes to the plan and suggest alternative approaches that may provide more benefit.
 
We were disappointed their response failed to engage at any significant level with those suggestions, and instead focused on a discussion concerning the merits of cricket.
 
We were also saddened their response chastised our Friends group for voicing local opinion against the current proposals, which do so little for the community we belong to.
 
Finally, we are surprised at what constituents tell us councillors have told them in response to queries regarding the plan.
 
For example:

• We do not agree one meeting in 2018 constitutes genuine consultation.
• We do not agree that two one-hour Zoom meetings advertised as “Information Sessions”, rather than consultations, represent a genuine attempt at engagement.

The struggle continues
 
We continue to fight for a delay to the current plans and for a credible community consultation to develop new plans that try to meet the needs of all local people, not just one group.
 
We do believe a better use of our time would be to work closely with Islington Council’s parks department and our MP to improve the current proposal, but if we are forced to struggle against the current plan, we will do that.
 
You can still help:

• Please sign our petition -- or share it widely if you have already signed.
• Please respond to our park user survey so we can build insight into what people need from their park.
• Please write to anyone you think may have influence, including local politicians, the council, funders, local and national media and anyone else you think may help.
• Please join the Friends of Wray Crescent to become involved in the campaign and our work to build our community.
• Please stay tuned for additional activity to support this campaign.

Wray Crescent park is not just cricket.